Two dead in natural gas explosion at US school

CHICAGO: Federal authorities joined the investigation on Thursday into a natural gas explosion at a US school that killed two adults and sent students fleeing as a building partially collapsed.

Rescuers pulled the body of the final missing person from the rubble late Wednesday at a Minnesota private Christian school. Two people were killed, a school janitor and a receptionist.

All students at Minnehaha Academy were accounted for, some fleeing the building at the school for grades kindergarten to 12 just moments before the explosion.

Nine people were injured. Three remained in the hospital Thursday, one in critical condition, according to the Hennepin County Medical Center.

“This morning our prayers are with Minnehaha’s facilities team member Bryan Duffey and his family. We pray for his healing and for the wisdom of the doctors and nurses caring for him at this time,” the school said in a statement.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), known for investigating plane and train crashes, sent an investigative team to the school.